Not a good night
by Obsessed-Language-Freak
Summary: Tseng doesn't really like being called out in the middle of the night, not even by the woman he loves the most. but sometimes it's good to answer that call. [TsengxElena]


My first FF7 fanfiction. If you'll review, please be nice.

Pairings: Tseng/Elena

Warnings: Rated T for some swearing. i don't like swearing, but sometiomes it's got to be used.

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7. If I did, I wouldn't be writing about it.

Set after Meteorfall, but before Advent Children. May be OOC, I don't know, I haven't played all of the game yet.

Summary: Tseng doesn't really like being called out in the middle of the night, not even by the woman he loves the most. But sometimes it's good to answer that call.

---

"See ya tomorrow, yo!" Reno jumped into Rude's car and waved mockingly to Tseng as he pulled away from the parking lot.

Tseng took no notice, keeping his lips in the same position that they were always in: an unreadable line. He had to get lumbered with all the overtime, didn't he? Still, he could use the little extra Gil that it earned.

For some reason, he felt guilty when he saw Elena walk out of her office, pulling her coat around her. Maybe it was because she was the worst well-off of them all; and there he was, worried about his three-bedroom apartment when she had just two rooms. She probably needed the overtime twice as much as he did.

At least the overtime was portable. It was just a bunch of reports that had been piling up on Reno's desk and needed to be done. He stuffed the reports into his briefcase and jogged lightly to catch up with Elena, who was just opening the door.

"Elena!" She turned around to face him, clearly surprised.

"Boss!" She stuttered, gazing down at her feet, blushing.

Tseng, on the other hand, almost mirrored her personality; far too shy to say anything to her, but not quite so shy that he blushed like a fool every time she was near. He knew about her crush – Reno was, when he wasn't being a jerk (which was undoubtedly most of the time) a very knowledgeable source of information.

"Are you walking alone?" Tseng bit his lip hard as he tried to work out how to ask Elena home. Women certainly weren't one of his stronger subjects and sometimes he couldn't understand them. Now was one of those times. Why did they - more specifically, Elena – make him nervous when he could be snarled at by an overly-vicious, mother-loving, silver-haired remnant, and not flinch a bit?

"Well, would you mind if I kept you company on the way?" Tseng asked gently as she nodded. The lump in his throat disappeared as he swallowed and Elena smiled up at him, nodding.

"Of course not, sir." She pulled the troublesome strap of her handbag back onto her shoulder, holding the door open for superior. Tseng smiled and took it from her, letting her shut it behind him. The last few lights in the building flickered twice and went off; evidently the boss was leaving the lodge, heading back to his own house for the night.

Tseng tried to make a little idle conversation on the way back, but Elena was embarrassed and stuttered a lot, making it harder for Tseng to make out her responses. They had been walking for half an hour when they finally reached the apartment block where Elena stayed.

"You live quite a way from work, Elena."

"I know, Sir --"

"Tseng."

Elena sighed. "I know. I've been trying to save up so I can move closer to the lodge, but…the rent's a lot of money, and…"

Seeing how embarrassed Elena looked only made Tseng feel even worse. He smiled at her, and she sighed, smiling back, her hair blowing about her in the rising wind.

"Elena, I've got something to say to you…"

She looked up, clearly not expecting the sudden announcement that came from her usually quiet boss. "Oh?"

"I…I…Thanks for letting me walk home with you."

Elena smiled, turned and walked away.

---

Tseng couldn't concentrate on Reno's reports. He couldn't concentrate on them at all, even when he switched on the television for a five minute break. The people on the news blurred together in a sudden blank of his mind. And to top it all off, he couldn't help but stab himself with his fork while eating his tea, because he just _could not_ concentrate.

"Uh! What is _wrong _with me?" He asked out loud, clenching his fist and trying to forget about his troubles. A buzzing from his pocket reminded him of his portable PHS, which was, to say the least, a decade old. Rufus had probably given it to the last head of the Turks, as well. Maybe his _father _had.

A text from Reno. Judging by all of the lazy spelling mistakes, Reno was probably blind stinking drunk, and couldn't be bothered to get Rude to do it for him. Sighing, Tseng read it out in his head. _Yo bossman, saw you walking home with Elena today…what're you doing **now?**_

It was only a brief translation of the message, but Tseng could almost see Reno's cocky grin and smell the drink on his breath.

Furious, he slammed the PHS down on the coffee table. Reno always knew what was on his mind, even if he didn't. Elena had been constantly plaguing his thoughts, making him unable to concentrate on anything. Another image of her popped into his mind, one of the very same afternoon, smiling, blushing…He could almost see the longing in her eyes…her beautiful brown eyes…

_Oh, for the love of…Just **stop**__thinking about her! Concentrate on your work! You're a **Turk, **for Hell's sake! _

His own dissuasion proved fruitless, and he groaned, leaning back into the couch. _What am I going to do until I see her again?_

He couldn't wait to go to work tomorrow, despite the fact that it would only mean a more troubling situation – being around Elena and not knowing what to say. But still, at least he could see her again…

It troubled Tseng that he had been _this_ close, **_so_** close to telling her how he felt about her, and he had chickened out at the last minute. He was captain of the Turks. He wasn't meant to feel afraid of a woman who was below him!

Sighing, Tseng tried once again to finish the vital reports that Reno had left unfinished. He managed to finish one, but the others still evaded his conscience. And all he could think about was Elena.

---

He hadn't slept for any of the two hours he had been in bed; Elena kept flashing into his thoughts and smiling, laughing, just standing there…He had tossed and turned all night, before finally giving up when he realised that Elena would still be teasing him even if he _got _to sleep. While that wasn't an alarming or displeasing thought, he would rather be asleep than awake. At least then he wouldn't be too sleepy to notice her tomorrow.

Tseng slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead when the phone rang for what had to be the fiftieth time that night. Well, not fiftieth…but still. He had a headache and he felt groggy after what seriously felt like the tenth time that night.

_Oh, wait…It **is**__the tenth time tonight…_

He wasn't going to pick it up. Oh no, not this time. The first time wasn't too bad, just somebody with the wrong number. But then Reno called, asking for his lost paperwork. Tseng had told him that he had _given_ his lost paperwork to him for finishing, but still, Reno was obviously drunk and kept prattling on about some meaningless junk.

And, being Reno, he had hung up and phoned again, just to make sure Tseng hadn't got his missing paperwork. And again, and again…

It was the eighth call from Reno when Tseng had finally snapped and told Reno to go shove the reports up his ass when he had finished with them. Truth be told, Tseng didn't like acting like…well, Reno…but sometimes it was the only way to get the redhead to shut up.

_I'm not answering it. They'll hang up after ten rings…I forgot to enable answer phone again…Shit._

The crappy company PHS needed to have answer phone enabled before it actually decided to record a message. Hell, he needed to make Rufus give them better stuff…like a nice new phone. One that had a form of ringing that _wasn't _that annoying jingle. Well, it had been original for about the first time, but had quickly become as boring as the matter of Rude's new sunglasses.

Yes, a nice new phone…The stupid jingle blared out again, jolting Tseng out of his daydream – night-dream? He still refused to pick it up.

But the phone didn't stop after ten rings. Or even twenty. Finally, on the twenty-ninth ring, Tseng picked the phone up. _I've been counting the rings…Crap, I'm going crazy._

"Yes, hello?" He growled into the phone, rubbing his head.

A quiet voice whispered to him over the connection. "Tseng, thank God you've picked up!"

"Elena?" Of all the people. Elena knew how much Tseng hated it when people called him in the night, especially because he was grumpy the next day. "What do you want?" But still, he couldn't deny the fact that he loved her to call.

"Tseng, can you come over? I know it sounds strange, I know it's the middle of the night but –-" Tseng was by nodding furiously. _Yes, I'll come over! Just what I need…to see Elena in her nightwear when I'm already dreaming about her…and shit, I'm not even asleep!_

But Elena screamed, and the phone went dead.

---

Tseng's hand trembled as he put the PHS down on the bedside table. He hadn't expected that much from Elena, but the blonde sounded terrified and on the verge of breaking. His inner emotions wrestled with each other, making him feel sick.

She'd be alright. Turks weren't scared of anything. Besides, it couldn't be a rapist or murderer, because they wouldn't get through a Turk's security. They wouldn't even attempt to break a lock, the cowards.

It was then he remembered that Elena didn't actually _have _a lock. Reno had broken it after he was drunk, not knowing where he was. In a blind fit of panic, he had tugged at the door before finally disintegrating the lock with his electro-mag-rod.

So it _could_ be a rapist. Or even a murderer. And Elena was on the receiving end of their tortures.

---

It took a few minutes for Tseng to actually realise that he should help Elena: he didn't want to lose a Turk. Not even a rookie. She wasn't even a rookie now; after Meteorfall Tseng had thought of her just as capable as the rest of them. Only Reno called her that now, and it was just to piss her off.

But she still took it personally. So like Elena.

Tseng sat up suddenly as he realised what could – potentially – happen to Elena. It took him a few more minutes to turn on the light, pull on his suit ad check the clock (which read half-midnight) and grab his gun and the spare ammo beside it.

He locked the door, jogged to the lifts, pressed down five times and waited. Five long, painful minutes had passed before he shook his long black hair and ran down the stairs, as the lift rose behind him.

Despite the shouts from teenage youths and drunkards, he ran across the road to many middle fingers and bad words. He wanted to point his gun at the next person who swore at him and shoot point blanc into their head. But no, he didn't want to create _more_ paperwork for himself, and he certainly didn't want the boss in trouble.

Instead, he ignored the cries of 'Screw you, you bastard!' and the like and absent-mindedly ran to Elena's apartment block. There was a light on in one of the apartment's…Elena's. He pressed the button on the outside of the block, calling for number nineteen – the number of Elena's apartment.

There was a fuzzy buzzing noise and Tseng hit the panel three times with a clenched fist before it finally flashed orange, burning his eyes but letting him through. At the same time he cursed and praised the little security device, rubbing his eyes with the back of his gloved hand.

The door to number nineteen was open, as Tseng had expected, and he pushed it open with the slightest ease and no resistance at all. Elena's room was cramped, a bed in one corner, the covers pulled back. There were no sign of Elena's reports, either; she had probably taken to hiding them, given the neighbourhood she lived in. A small armchair and sofa decorated one side of the room, Elena's small coat resting there.

The kitchen area was where Elena stood, at the furthest reaches of the room, standing there, scared motionless. Tseng ran to her, noticing the wild panic in her eyes, like the look a victim had when he was about to be shot without a second thought.

"Elena!" He shook her, snapping her out of her reverie. It seemed as if his touch had burned her, waking her up.

"Sir! Thank you for coming," she whispered, setting a glass of water down on the small worktops. It was strange that she still smelled faintly of rose petals, even at this ungodly hour.

"Elena, what's wrong?" _Hell, her name sounds **so** good…_

"Sir, there's a spider on my wall…"

---

Please be nice! My first FF7 fanfiction, so no flames please!


End file.
